Like many of you, I thought of doing the Amy Butler Weekender bag, but was intimidated by the piping (only done once – not good) & the modifications to the pattern. I decided that I could make my own bag & it would be ‘my bag’. Long story short, I had back probs for 4 months & the bag was put on hold. After starting the bag, I ran out of fabric, had to modify the pockets & really messed up the zipper so I had to re do the zip – it was not pretty.

Because I ran out of fabric for the pockets, I decided to use burgundy fabric & do some cut work of the flowers & machine blanket stitched them on after fusing them. It came out pretty good. I finally finished the bag several weeks ago & would like to show it off.

Here is the front (sitting crooked) – 1 large pocket w/a tab closure so bulky items can be carried:

Here is the back - 2 pockets:

Inside – 2 pockets on each side:

Bottom – I decided to put on 6 feet for stability:

I also added a floor – I used a double piece of quilting plastic & covered it. I made the cover a ¾” bigger on all sides to create a skirt so nothing can fall underneath & get lost.

The dimensions are 14"x17"x4". This bag is now in Hawaii being enjoyed by my daughter & will be doing a lot of traveling w/her. The only thing different I would’ve done is made the bottom wider by about 2” – other than that it was pretty easy, once my back healed & I was able to focus on getting it done.

What I also made for this bag was a journal (forgot to pic it). I knew it was going to be challenging, so I wrote down key points so I'd remember them & after all was said & done, I sat down at my computer & started typing. It was very interesting that thoughts just kept coming - mistakes, failed attempts, triumps. I decided to make it into a book, I called "The Journey of this Bag", & I included a part of the melted zipper & the different elements that I had tried & didn't like - I was going to throw them out anyways, so I put them to good use. I used the maroon fabric for the cover & the flowers were the inside cover. It came out real nice & was very fitting for the bag. My husband said that it's a great idea to make a journal like that for bags - it gives the receiver an idea of what went into the making of their bag.